The present invention relates to the operation of wireless digital networks, and more particularly to load balancing in wireless digital networks.
A wireless digital network typically comprises a plurality of wireless access nodes providing services to wireless clients. Access nodes may have wired or wireless connections to the services, and may connect to a central controller, or the control function may be distributed among the access nodes. Wireless client devices obtain service by connecting through an access node.
In today's wireless networks, the decision to move a client from one access node to another access node is taken entirely by the client. If an access node wishes to move a currently connected client to another access node, for example to provide better service, to balance loading, or for other reasons, the access node currently connected to the client must actively disconnect or de-authenticate the client, forcing the client to re-connect.
Such active disconnection or de-authentication can result in session timeouts, increased communications latency, increased roaming latency, and dissatisfied users.
What is needed is a method of load balancing in wireless networks that does not rely on active disconnects.